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Dalits In News 29.12.07

*NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS is an Advocacy Platform committed for Dalit Human Rights at the Grass root, National and International levels. Dalits

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, Dec 29, 2007

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NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS
is an Advocacy Platform committed for Dalit Human Rights at the Grass root,
National and International levels. Dalits In News aims at sensitizing Civil
societies, HR Mechanisms and providing updates of HR violations on Dalits for
their Intervention.

KANPUR
: Though chief minister
Mayawati's focus is on 'sarvjan hitya-sarvjan sukhay,' 45-odd students of a
primary school in Etawah hold a completely different opinion.

In a shocking incident, 45 children of a primary
school in Hazratpur Jatia village under the Vedpurva police station of Etawah
refused to eat mid-day meal cooked and served by two Dalit women. Though the
children are not taking the meals from December 14, district authorities came
to know about the issue only on Friday. In an effort to hush up the matter, a team of
district authorities rushed to the primary school on Friday to convince the
students. Even though the district authorities were quick in claiming that the
children had agreed to eat food prepared by Surajmukhi and Kela Devi, there was
a widespread resentment amongst the students and their parents.

Earth Times

Six of family killed in Bihar village fire

Patna, Dec 29 - Six members, including five
children, of a poverty-stricken Dalit family died after their thatched hut
caught fire in Budhgariya village of Gaya district in Bihar, the police said
Saturday.

The ghastly accident occurred late Friday night.

The family head, Preman Manjhi, who suffered
serious burn injuries, was admitted to the government hospital in Gaya town in a critical
condition.

Manjhi was admitted to the ICU of Anugrah Narayan
Medical College and Hospital, district administration officials said. 'The
family was burnt to death when their thatched hut caught fire while they were
sleeping,' the police said.

It is a practice among the poor people in Bihar to burn cow dung cakes and wood to keep them warm.

The police suspect the thatched hut may have
caught fire from home-made earthen room heater.

With the recovery of one more body on Saturday, the death toll in the communal
violence in tribal-dominated Kandhamal district of Orissa has officially
increased to three even as the State Government placed two police officers and
a revenue inspector under suspension.

According to the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Southern Division,
Satyabrata Sahu, the body of a 65-year-old man was recovered from Barakhama
village. He supposedly had died two days ago during a clash between the two
communities.

Sources said that while one person was killed in police firing at Brahmanigaon
village, two died in stone pelting incidents in Barakhama village.

Palpable tension continued in villages under
Baliguda police station from where there were reports of house burning, they
said.

"Though we have received reports of house
burning at villages like Kutikia, Saudikia, Linepalli, Temanga and Sandrigaon,
they are yet to be confirmed," Sahu said avoiding questions on the total
number of houses burnt in the district.

He said that the Circle Inspectors of Police (CI)
of Tikabali and Phiringia were placed under suspension on charge of dereliction
of duty.

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa Steel and Mines
Minister Padmanabha Behera, who hails from the violence-hit Kandhamal district,
resigned from his post, even as the situation continued to remain tense in the
tribal-dominated district for the fifth day on Friday.

Mr. Behera, a former member of the Lok Sabha and prominent Biju
Janata Dal leader from the region, said he submitted his resignation to Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik owning moral responsibility for the incidents of
communal violence in Kandhamal since December 24.

In a major damage control exercise, the State government has
ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence in Kandhamal. Retired High Court
judge Basudev Panigrahi will conduct the inquiry.

The government also appointed a new district Collector for
Kandhamal with immediate effect. Manish Kumar Verma, Collector of Malkangiri,
will replace Kandhamal Collector Bhabagrahi Mohapatra, who was asked to join
the General Administration Department for further posting. Additional District
Magistrate of Rourkela Nitin Bhanudas Jawle
was appointed Malkangiri Collector.

Tribals'
demand

The dropping of Mr. Behera from the Cabinet was one of the demands
put forth by the agitating Kui tribals of Kandhamal, who had been opposing the
alleged granting of Scheduled Caste status to Dalits in the region. Mr. Behera
is a Dalit.

The Kui tribals were also demanding appointment of a direct IAS
officer as Kandhamal Collector instead of an official who was promoted as IAS.

The All-India Christian Council and Church leaders in the State
criticised the government decision for a judicial inquiry into the violence in
Kandhamal.

At a press conference here, the Council general secretary, John
Dayal, demanded that a Central Bureau of Investigation probe be ordered into
the attacks on the Christians.

"The judicial inquiry will not lead to giving justice to the
victims," said Raphael Cheenath, Archbishop of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack.

As many as eight persons were killed and 55 churches attacked in
Kandhamal till Friday afternoon as hundreds of members of the community were
hiding in forest to save their life from the attackers, they said.

The victims included those who were killed in police firing, Mr.
Dayal said.

Curfew
continues

In Kandhamal, curfew continued to remain in force in four towns as
more paramilitary forces were being deployed to prevent violence from spreading
to newer areas.

In Bhubaneswar,
women's organisations took out a rally appealing for restoration of peace in
the strife-torn region.

They submitted a memorandum to Governor M.C. Bhandare seeking his
intervention for immediate deployment of the Central forces in Kandhamal.

The Haryana Government has decided to waive off the interest along with penalty
of those loanees of Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance and Development
Corporation who would deposit their principal amount upto March 16, 2008 in
installment or in lump sum.

While giving this information on Friday, Haryana Social Welfare Minister, Kartar
Devi said that the loanees who had the balance loan amount upto March 31, 2006
and paid their principal amount in lump sum or in installments upto March 16,
2008 could be benefited under this scheme. No another chance would be given to
the loanees after March 16, 2008. The interested persons could contact at the
district offices of the corporation and headquarters at Chandigarh, she added.

ATHANI: A quarrel that broke out between people
belonging to SC and ST marred the Yellamma fair at Sankaratti village in Athani
taluk on Thursday night.

According to the police, it all began when some
youth belonging to ST community forced some girls of SC community to dance in
the fair. Some SC youth took umbrage at the act and countered the move.

Two camps were soon formed and abuse and
fisticuff followed. Nobody was seriously hurt. Later, the SC youth filed a
complaint against ST youth with the Athani police and also submitted a
memorandum to the tahshildar of Athani.